Beyond the Vending Machine: FoodCorps Reconnects Kids to the Earth

FoodCorps service member Zashe Cockett-Demings helps students at Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Georgia, make a worm composting bed for the after-school Garden Club. FoodCorps is part of AmericCorps.

ATLANTA — Zashe Cockett-Demings pulled out a small box of worms. She stood in front of 20 students in the outdoor courtyard of Clarkston High School near Atlanta.

Raised planting beds were scattered around the courtyard, filled with rosemary, oregano, and other herbs. Cabbages and onions poked up above the dirt near a sundial.

“We’re going to make a worm bed,” she told the students, who laughed and pretended disgust but were nevertheless interested.

“Worms are really important to having healthy soil,” she explained. They make channels in the dirt, allow water to flow through and fertilize the soil.

Cockett-Demings is a FoodCorps service member. She leads projects in the school Garden Club and teaches kids about gardening and food.

She and the students lined a large plastic container with cardboard, placed potting soil in it and added the worms. They’ll monitor the worm bed, add food scraps to it and watch the worms turn it into compost, which can be used in the garden.

That afternoon, the students also planted snow peas and chopped up ingredients to make hummus, which they then sampled.

FoodCorps has 225 service members working in schools and community organizations in 17 states and the District of Columbia. It’s part of AmeriCorps, the national service network in which members spend up to a year volunteering.

Ninety-three percent of children do not eat enough vegetables to meet daily recommendations, and 60 percent do not eat enough fruit, according to the CDC.

Nutrition education done in a hands-on way does develop more preference for healthy food, Moore said. “If kids grow it and cook it, they are more likely to taste it. If they taste it, they are more likely to like it,” she said.

FoodCorps identifies school sites based on the percentage of kids receiving free or reduced-price lunches. FoodCorps service members work with kids both during the school day and after school. They connect schools and local farms, taking kids on field trips to farms and finding ways local produce can be used in the cafeterias.

Members serve in schools, school districts, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.